


Falling Petals of a Wilting Rose

by Sun_And_Stars



Category: All Time Low (Band)
Genre: All Time Low (Band) - Freeform, Bandom - Freeform, Character Death, Concerts, Coping, Flashbacks, Grief/Mourning, Guardian Angels, Loss, M/M, Memories, Slow Build, Zalex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-01
Updated: 2018-01-31
Packaged: 2019-03-12 02:51:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13538127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sun_And_Stars/pseuds/Sun_And_Stars
Summary: It's a concert that's unforgettable - whether Alex likes it or now (spoiler alert, he doesn't). It's the concert that made his life start to crumble apart as he and his remaining bandmates try to pick up the pieces and cope with the aftermath. However, they're not actually alone as they think they are...





	Falling Petals of a Wilting Rose

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: Major character death and mild violence in the form of a shooting

Sometimes…. Sometimes things are over before they ever even begin. You feel some sort of buildup, something bubbling beneath the surface. If it were an orchestral performance, this would be the crescendo. Slowly building as the music gets louder and louder, drums steadily booming in the background as the strings play faster and faster, and then – nothing. There’s no climax. There’s no relief. There’s only an end that is sharp and sudden and nothingness after that. There is no calming down or falling apart; it’s just over.

That’s how Zack felt right about now.

Except, it wasn’t exactly nothing. He felt something - numbness that turned into pain, immediate and blooming throughout his chest. He stumbled back a bit, stopping his playing and putting a hand to where his chest hurt. He heard bursts of gunfire as he realized his hand felt stickier than how sweaty he was from all the jumping around on stage he had been doing. Zack heard screaming but not the kind of before when they were all playing, and people were singing loudly along. Panicked screaming. Scared screaming.

He heard Rian screaming something about ‘take cover’. _That doesn’t make sense, they hadn’t released Take Cover yet… Straight to DVD II wasn’t out for another two weeks._ The crowd was pulling back from the stage, people toppling over one another and some bodies dropping onto the floor – _did they pass out?_ Zack looked out over them, confused, and feeling Alex’s hands now on him. Was he yelling? He could hear the gunfire still, but it sounded farther away – everything did.

No. No this couldn’t be right. It didn’t make sense. He looked down, confused, and when he pulled his hand away there was blood on it. A lot of blood. His blood. He looked over at Alex, his face a mix of confusion and something that Alex would never be able to figure out. The sounds of bullets stopped now, some people had tackled the shooter down to the ground. Was this really happening?" 

“I… Is this real?” He felt dizzy-ish and breathing was difficult. It was like having a bad case of pneumonia - lungs not quite working right and chest heavy. He felt his legs crumple underneath him and Alex yelling again – his name - as he crumbled to the floor in a heap, head hitting it pretty badly. Zack was suddenly staring up at the ceiling of the venue they were at. The lights were still going off in time with how the music was supposed to be – only the backing track was playing now.  The lights were pretty and colorful and for some reason, the bassist couldn't keep his thoughts straight.  He snapped out of thinking about the lights only when he saw Alex’s face above him and he looked like he was crying. Why was he crying? Oh, right. Perhaps it was because Zack was bleeding.

Zack could see his mouth moving as black and white spots danced over his features. He was so... lightheaded. He felt like he needed to take the nap of the century but he wasn't quite tired. He closed his eyes only for them to be snapped back open as Alex tapped his cheek. Though all far away sounding, Zack could make out that he was yelling at him to stay with him, begging. Pleading. 

"Zack, Zack please hold on. Hold on for me, please. Help is coming, buddy. There are paramedics, they're coming really soon." Alex said, his eyes welled up with tears. He looked terrified and years younger than he was. He felt helpless, holding the more muscular man to him. Rian was with Jack, who was clutching his arm, having been hit with a bullet as well - Jack had been jumping around near Zack, but Zack was the one that got hit first. The shots came from his side of the stage and sprayed out into the crowd of fans after hitting Jack and Zack. Zack, however, got shot in the middle of his chest, right underneath his sun tattoo, where his heart was. Nobody could see it, but the bullet had punctured the wall of his heart, making it pump more blood and bleed out faster. Zack was starting to gasp for breath. 

"I... I-" He tried, feeling like he was choking but he wasn't really. His breaths were quicker, more shallow, as his body tried it's hardest to keep him alive. His vision was blurrier now, dots dancing over his eyes in a beautiful ballet routine that would never be able to be fully comprehended. The bassist himself hardly understood what was really happening - that he was dying, bleeding out in Alex's arms. He could barely comprehend that a mass shooting just happened at their concert. "A-Al-l-l-lex...."

For the smallest sliver of a moment, realization could be seen in Zack's eyes as he looked up at Alex's face as Alex asked him what it was.  _I'm dying. If this is it, I need to tell Alex._ But he never would. His time had run out. That small flicker of hope that Alex had upon seeing his eyes focus for a moment was soon squashed as all light left his hazel eyes and all of Zack's tensed muscles relaxed. Zack slipped away silently, dead eyes staring up at Alex. He was gone.

Three minutes later when the paramedics arrived, Zackary Stephen Merrick was pronounced DOA: dead on arrival. Time of death - 10:37 pm, September 17th, 2015. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all! Thanks for reading chapter one of my new fic, I really hoped you liked it!!! It's just a general opener for the fic and I'm planning on making the next chapters longer. I'm also hoping to try to update on a weekly basis so long as people are interested and want more. Let me know down in the comments if you'd like to see more of this!! Thanks a lot!
> 
> ~ Sun_And_Stars


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